Centre cancels plans to shift CIPET from Chennai

The Central government has said it has no plans to shift the head office of the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) from Chennai and instead wants to set up an alternative headquarters in the national capital.

On Wednesday, Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers Ananth Kumar told reporters in Delhi that the Centre also plans to open regional headquarters of CIPET to support its expansion.

“The Chennai headquarters of CIPET will continue. Along with the Chennai headquarters, there is a need for establishing another alternative headquarters in Delhi also to cater to the entire country,” Kumar told a news channel.

“The Chennai headquarters of CIPET will continue. We will have an alternative headquarters in New Delhi for operational purposes and we will have regional headquarters also,” Kumar said.

“Therefore, there is no question of any shifting of the headquarters from Chennai,” he emphasised.

“Earlier, we had 23 centres training 44,000 students. Now, the Modi government has taken the number to 39 centres. There is a proposal to add more. The number of students being trained has increased to 65,000. We want to increase it to one lakh,” he said.

On DMK’s demand for PM’s intervention in this matter, Kumar said, “Our stand is clear. Our stand is we are not shifting anything. We are expanding the CIPET and restructuring the whole thing.”